Sorry this took so long to update, I have a research project abroad for the next month so updates may be slightly more sporadic but I shall aim to update at least once a week for each story I have on the go at the moment.

Knights and Dragons- I am afraid I haven't really considered pairings yet, I have only planned as far as Harry's eleventh birthday but I will take into consideration the Fleur pairing! There will be short time skips and episodes from Harry's life with the Blacks' up until he goes to school

VizeerLord- The Potter wills are going to be read sometime soon. There are going to be old marriage contracts but whether they can be avoided or not I shan't say. As I have said earlier, I haven't decided pairings so we shall have to see. Feel free to say who you would like to see Harry paired with.

Pixelherodev- Hopefully parts of this chapter shall explain Dumbledore's actions. I don't tend to read stories where Dumbledore is totally evil, he really does believe what he is doing is right it is just that he is going to go the wrong way in doing them. He doesn't want to rule per say but monitor and influence the younger generations...

Any more questions, please just ask and I shall try to answer.

Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter

Chapter 6:

In the 18th century, a muggle by the name of Francis Hutcheson wrote that life should be the "Greatest happiness for the greatest number" and so the idea of utilitarianism was born. Reading it as a teenager, the phrase resonated with Albus Dumbledore and it was something that he had tried to live his life by, eventually though Grindlewald had manipulated the idea and philosophy to 'for the greater good'. And whilst Dumbledore had come to hate that phrase, the original muggle words continued to resounded within him, after all, it did make sense. For him, happiness was for the greatest number, what did it matter that two people suffered if two hundred or two thousand were happy, the suffering of a few was always going to be tempered by the happiness of many.

Sirius and Harry were two of the former group, the few people who must suffer for the happiness of others. He knew deep down that what he was going was wrong but he had the future to think about and the future of the children at Hogwarts to think about. Oh, he knew that Harry wouldn't have the best upbringing, he would lack the love and compassion that his parents would have showered him in but at least he would come with the awe and wonder of a muggleborn into the magical world and never want to leave. He would not be raised in the prejudice and power struggle that he would have been accustomed to should he have remained in the magical world. In truth Dumbledore feared a boy like James once was but raised by Sirius, a man who would likely spoil the Boy-Who-Lived rotten, the magical world needed a figure head and they always had. Merlin was their greatest and Dumbledore had been the leader basically ever since he defeated Grindlewald but he was now old. He had been considering his successor as the next light lord for years and then Voldemort tried to kill the Potters' and Harry survived.

It was why he choose to become headmaster rather than Minister. It was all very well being Minister but the future was made by and for the young. Influence them then and you had influenced them for life. As headmaster he was able to control and influence the beliefs and values of the young, particularly the muggleborns and the light orientated families who trusted him, the same wasn't true for the darker families who inherently mistrusted him and his actions.

Harry had to be safe, he was the Boy-Who-Lived and Dumbledore did not know who to trust in the magical world, after all Black was apparently a Death Eater and whilst he rather doubted that it was true, it at least prevented Harry brought up by the man.

Dumbledore had seen the impact of the Death Eaters and indeed ambition. His own sister had been killed because of a mistake and the folly of youth. He had seen the aftermath of the Death Eater raids on families like the Bones', Potters' and Selwyn's. Indeed, it was James' parents' death that perhaps hit home most, he had known them for years and they had tried for a child for years, never succeeding until they had James quite late on in life. But they were killed at a party in their home, a single unwarded fireplace allowed ten Death Eaters to enter the house, kill Dorea and Charlus Potter as well as several others. James had received a black envelope the following morning, telling him at age sixteen that he was now Lord Potter and the sole remaining Potter. How could that not effect someone? And James was only one victim of the loss that tailed the Death Eaters like thunder tails lightning.

And so Dumbledore had decided to fight with whatever it took. The prophecy had given him hope. But it had not been completely fulfilled so he had been forced to think long term. He knew that Voldemort was still alive and weak, horcruxes were a distinct possibility, particularly as he had detected some foreign magic within Harry's core when he scanned him before leaving him with the Dursley's. He had no clue how many horcruxes Voldemort may have made not indeed they were actually indeed horcruxes, he could have killed the child there and then but then the new figurehead of the Light was lost and he the prophecy may never be fulfilled.

From Harry Potter's point of view, life couldn't really get much better than it had been over the past three days. He was still confined to his bed but he was carried out onto a balcony every day so he could get some fresh air, apparently it was good for little boys. He had received the shock of his life when a nice woman had arrived at number 4 Privet Drive and taken him from his cupboard to the hospital. When he had woken up though, he found himself in apparently a different country and the existence of magic. He was still very confused that he didn't have to do chores but apparently he shouldn't have done them in the first place so he didn't argue or say anything. He was also allowed to ask as many questions as he liked about magic and they were always answered, he learned that his parents were killed Lily and James. He had almost cried at seeing a picture of them, before they had always been faceless imaginations of a lonely boy but now they had form and he had proof that they existed and were good, not drunks, now layabouts.

He considered the three people who had rescued him and who he now lived with. Uncle Marius gave really good hugs, as did his wife, Tamara, who visited on occasion. Apparently he couldn't do magic which was really sad. He read some amazing books though, about giants, giant peaches, magical wardrobes and centaurs, Uncle Marius came in and read him stories every night before giving him a huge hug and putting him to bed in his vast canopied bed. Aunt Cassi (as she had asked him to call her after he had said her name wrong one too many times) was very beautiful, even though she was rather old. She was very scary but was kind to him at least, despite this she was strict though, forever telling him to enunciate, which he didn't understand at first, and to stand up straight. Uncle Phinni was like Uncle Marius, he too was very kind but didn't speak very much, seemingly reading almost constantly but he came in and gave Harry hugs once a day and always listened to him talking about life with the Dursleys', it was nice to have someone just to listen to him for once.

The one thing that confused more than most was the house-elf, Mipsy, who was almost constantly asking whether he wanted food, sleep, medicine, toys, or anything really. It was very strange to the boy who up until that point had lived in a cupboard, done chores for most of his time and had lived off scraps. To suddenly have this creature who seemed unwilling to even let him get off the bed by himself it all seemed rather unnecessary but nice at the same time. He sighed, apparently he was going to start lessons next week for reading, writing, history and etiquette. Whilst he had been at school for one year already, he had never had the attention that Dudley had had so his writing was good although he could speak quite well as he never really had any friends his own age, only the teachers would ever speak to him really when he was at school, the others scared by Dudley's bulk. It couldn't be too bad really Harry mused, at least his new aunt's and uncles' were nice and he had enough food and someone to look after him.

As Harry contemplated his new life in the chateau, Cassiopeia and Phineas found themselves once more in the Ministry, this time in the gallery of the largest of the old courtrooms. Unlike when passing bills and legislation, for criminal cases each member of the Wizengamot had one single vote. Either Sirius was guilty and then his will could be put into action and Harry could be named Heir Black or he was innocent then Sirius was free, Harry was still Heir Black until his majority, whatever happened, the Ministry would be paying a lot of money and basically bowing over backwards to assist the House Black. Really it was a win-win situation and Cassiopeia rather liked those events.

The court room was packed, the story had caught the attention of press over the magical world and a newspaper in France had gone so far as claiming that the situation "proved the incompetency and closed mind nature of Britain's magical community", that was one of the nicer comments, Italy had vilified the Ministry whilst America had pretty much said that if Britain did not put on a trial then they were revoking all trade deals. The basic problem was that Britain was the only country to use dementors, in most other countries they were viewed as dark and wrong, to place humans, whether guilty or not, near then was seen as torture and utterly illegal. They managed their prisons through immense wards and spells and they saw Britain as being backward and inhumane for their use of the dark creatures. Whether or not they were could be debated at another time, the simple fact was that the ICW was angry as were the British wizarding public, so inside the crowded court there were over fifty reporters from all over the world, eighteen photographers and two international ICW representatives, it would all serve to help the Blacks' case as well as Sirius' should he be innocent.

Speaking of the man, the poor figure of Sirius Black was now being led onto the platform and roughly pushed into the chair, the chains of which quickly wrapping around his clearly emancipated form. An auror stepped forward and poured veritaserum down his throat rather harshly, although the man willingly took it.

Bagnold stood, "We are here to rectify a five year old mistake. On behalf of the Ministry and the Wizengamot we apologise to House Black and we shall now aim to follow usual court behaviors and routines in order to formally sentence Sirius Black." Cassiopeia's face became one of disbelief, 'formally sentence', well if that wasn't an admittance of what they were expecting to happen then she had no idea what was. She turned back to Minister Bagnold who had sat done once more and was clearing her throat slightly to start the test questions.

"What is your full name and date of birth?"

"Sirius Orion Black, 3rd November 1959"

"And what is your occupation and what house were you in at Hogwarts?"

"Currently unemployed, former Auror. Gryffindor."

Bagnold turned to the court, "The veritaserum is working. We shall now start the charges. Did you betray James, Lily and Harry Potter?"

"Yes" Sirius said hoarsely despite the veritaserum. There were cries of victory but Minister Bagnold had to continue the list of questions, despite believing the case now basically closed, some members in both the light and dark blocks looked vindicated though.

"How did you betray James, Lily and Harry Potter?"

"I told them to change Secret Keeper to Peter Pettigrew to trick Voldemort." There was silence, all knew that only a Secret Keeper could tell the location of a house under the Fidelius charm. Looking over at Phineas, Cassiopeia smiled, one charge that Sirius was just proved innocent of.

Bagnold swallowed, "Why did you have them change?"

"I was too obvious, everyone knew I was James' best friend, I was also on active duty as an Auror so frequently in danger. It was to be the best prank, no-one would suspect Peter Pettigrew". Those that knew the four friends knew that was true, it would have been the greatest prank, if only they had been able to trust Pettigrew. Bagnold sat knowing that her political career was over, she had given Peter Pettigrew an Order of Merlin Third Class and now it was found revealed he was not even innocent.

"So Peter Pettigrew betrayed the location of the Potters' to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and you were not the Secret Keeper for the Potters?"

"Yes"

"Is this why you killed Peter Pettigrew?"

"I didn't kill him." Once more Sirius Black stunned the room to silence.

"Elaborate please Mr Black. Did you not confront Pettigrew in a muggle street and kill him and twelve muggles."

"No. I did go after Pettigrew after I found James and Lily dead but I didn't kill muggles. Pettigrew blew up a gas mains with a bombarda curse. He is an animagus, turns into a rat. He cut off his finger and transformed before running into the sewers."

Bagnold muttered an 'of course' under her breath as she contemplated whether she had enough money to escape to Brazil, or maybe the Easter Islands, the outrage that would stem from all this. She and Crouch had placed an innocent man in prison without a trial and a member of a Most Ancient and Noble House at that. She would be lucky if she was still alive though, knowing the Blacks'. Looking up at the gallery she caught sight of the two elderly Blacks' who sat there, smirks on their face as they watched the humiliation of their government, not that it really was theirs, after all one lived in France, the other in Greece. Rubbing her face with both hands, Bagnold looked back to the list of approved questions and knowing what his response would be, but also knowing that she had to ask, she looked once more at Sirius Black.

"Do you or have you ever supported, aided or abated You-Know-Who?"

"No"

With that Sirius Black was proved innocent of every single charge he had been imprisoned for. Bagnold swallowed deeply before turning to the court.

"All in favour of immediate acquittal and release from prison?"

Lights lit up across the room and it was immediately obvious that the case and trial were over. Looking at the minutes paper that recorded the votes, Bagnold shuddered slightly, some of the biggest names and people had voted not-guilty including the Greengrasses, Bones and even the Malfoys'.

"All in favour of a guilty sentence?"

No lights lit up as it seemed some had chosen not to abstain from the vote.

"Fifty two not guilty, zero guilty votes. Sirius Black, you are free to leave."

There was silence for a moment as no one was sure how to respond. What do you say to someone who had spent five years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Smirking at her cousin, Cassiopeia wasn't sure whether it was proper that she was this happy.

"Well" Cassiopeia said as she stood from her place in the gallery and watching as everyone turned to her, "This has been so very interesting, hasn't it cousin?"

"It really has" Phineas answered standing too, "But I think that you have a portkey to take Sirius to that private hospital we booked in Europe, don't you?"

"Indeed... Thank you for allowing us to regain a family member and essentially proving that you imprisoned and tortured a member of the Most Ancient and Noble House without reason. We have enjoyed ourselves immensely today." Cassiopeia said as she stood smirking down at the sheep beneath her.

Seeing that Minister Bagnold and several others were about to interrupt and likely start apologies, Phineas added, "We shall of course be back in a few days to discuss how the Ministry and Wizengamot are going to start the search for Peter Pettigrew and recompense House Black and Sirius. Unfortunately, my nephew seems to be suffering from undernourishment and that cough sounds a lot like influenza so we simply must get him some treatment, once we have done that we shall of course return with a healer's opinion on the impact that nearly five years in Azkaban has had on an innocent man..."

With that Phineas and Cassiopeia moved over to Sirius who sat not moving from the shock of his sudden release. With a glare at one of the Aurors, the chains which crossed Sirius body fell apart and the two elder Black pulled the younger to his feet and marched him quickly out the door. There was silence for a moment in the courtroom, that was until bedlam started. Reporters started yelling for statements, the members of the court trying to pass blame, the Minister and several others running after the Blacks' and the ICW representatives storming out of the room. They had been there to see justice performed and had not expected that the man may have been innocent, they saw it as there duty to tell the ICW of the horrors that the British incompetence had inflicted upon an innocent man.

Bagnold Resigns.

Perhaps it is not unexpected after the trial of Sirius Black two days ago that Minister Bagnold has resigned. She along with Crouch were responsible for throwing Sirius Black into prison without a trial and this mistake has cost her greatly. The international outcry from the ICW and the international community has been seen as the final nail in the coffin for Bagnold who was to stand down at the end of the year anyway.

Crouch has not resigned, despite pressure from both the international and wizarding community. How long he survives now is a hotly debated topic, this reporter believes that he will leave the Ministry in the next week.

More on Bagnold's tenure as Minister-p.2-3

Who will be the next Minister?- p.5

"Mr Black? Mr Black?"

Sirius Orion Black was torn from his deep thoughts by the voice of the medi-nurse from the door.

"Are you alright, sir?"

"…Yes" Sirius said, looking at his skeletal grey hands that lay clasped on the bed in front of him. Getting out of prison had once seemed the impossible part, now he was free it seemed that recovering was going to be. He knew that he was ill but to have it read out to you was horrendous, to hear them talk about influenza, loss of feeling, infertility, really starvation seemed to be the easiest to handle, at least that was easy to see and admit to oneself. The infertility…that was difficult to process, it was one thing to admit that you didn't necessary want children, it was another to be told that it was an impossibility, at least he had Harry waiting somewhere.

Harry. When he had first been approached by Marius, Cassiopeia and Phineas he had tried to run, to fight, he didn't want to see anyone, let alone the family who had detested him so. But he was so weak that he could hardly move and was forced to listen and he had been relieved that he had listened. They had found Harry and were looking after him. He was happy. He was safe. Sirius could see his pup soon. They had even bought photos to show him so that he could see his godson safe in the chateau, these photos lay under his pillow and were frequently taken out and stared at longingly. He had survived for Harry, he had stayed as sane as he could for Harry, he would get better for Harry.

The behaviour of his family had shocked him. His squib uncle was there as was a disinherited cousin whilst Cassiopeia had returned from France. At first he had solely believed that were doing this all for the money gained from suing the Ministry but it seemed that they were at least partially doing this for the family and for him, after all they had retrieved Harry too. It was worry and disconcerting though that they hadn't said where he was and that made Sirius suspicious, either they had kidnapped him (which seemed unlikely as there was nothing in the papers about Harry missing from someone's house) or he was not in the magical world at all.

Marius sighed as he rubbed his tired eyes, it had been five days since Sirius had been exonerated and the poor man was still suffering the aftereffects of the dementors, his hands shook as if he was suffering the aftermath of the cruciatus curse, the nerve endings in his hands were so bad that if it were not for magic, his fingers would have had to be amputated, as it was they would take several months to regain their sensitivity and feeling, it seemed likely that arthritis would plague him in older age. Sirius weighed well under 10 stone as a twenty-six year old man and it was likely that he would be on potions for a year or so and on a liquid diet for the next two weeks as he couldn't digest anything properly.

If that was not bad enough, he suffered such bad nightmares that it was necessary that someone stay with him constantly so that he did not accidentally hurt himself while thrashing around or trying to escape as he was apt to do. He had to constantly be reminded that it wasn't a dream when he was awake and he was prone to breaking down and crying frequently.

Five years. That was how long Sirius had been in prison and whilst he maintained his sanity, he had post-traumatic stress. He had not experienced life without war, even growing up at school, there had been near constant rumblings of instability and even before he graduated, there was open war and violence, letters flooding into the Great Hall of Hogwarts telling of murdered or imprisoned aunts, brothers and parents, that was how Sirius had found out about the death of Charlus and Dorea Potter, his almost adoptive parents. Upon leaving school, Sirius had gone almost straight into the Auror corps and frontline duty, Marius sighed once more, for Sirius it was going to be difficult to cope. Going from active duty to prison to then be found innocent and released into times of relative peace was going to be difficult and Marius knew that if it was not for the promise of seeing Harry, Sirius would have either committed suicide or gone mad to escape the pain and promise of more pain. Whilst in prison, he hadn't received news and had little time for mourning, how ever they were going to explain about the Longbottoms' who were permanent residences at St Mungo's due to the torture by Bellatrix, Marius didn't know. They hadn't even considered telling the man about the state they found Harry in as that would likely just cause even more anger, Sirius needed positive emotions at the moment, not thoughts of hatred, revenge and pain.

The squib sat back in his chair recalling the old World War I poem he had learned at school by Wilfred Owen which finished: 'My friend, you would not tell with such high zest/ To children ardent for some desperate glory,/ The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est/ Pro patria mori' (i). Sirius, James Potter and so many were just 'children' when they had died and suffered for and the 'desperate glory' that they had die? Well it destroyed so many lives, families and hopes and was still felt now. Marius had lived through the Great War and the World War, he knew its effects and its terror but at least the muggles had tried and mostly succeeded to build a better society from the heap of scraps and twisted buildings that remained. The magical world hadn't, Voldemort may be gone but sometimes it seemed that no-one had learned anything from the war, they continued to give children a weapon age eleven and continued to teach them hatred and that some people were better than others due to the chance of birth. Really, the magical world had not advanced nor changed much since when he was first thrown out for his lack of magic to when his sister re-introduced him. In comparison, the muggle world had changed beyond recognition and technology and society had advanced and altered. He sighed and hoped that even during his lifetime, some efforts may be made to actually improve life and society in wizarding Britain.

Just under seven days after Sirius trial and release from prison, Phineas and Cassiopeia found themselves once more waiting in the outer room of the Great Chamber of the Wizengamot. Armed with papers documenting the condition of Sirius after his illegal incarceration, the pair were out for blood, it was such a shame that Bagnold had resigned before they had managed to petition the Wizengamot for retribution.

They were both glad that Sirius was innocent, it meant there was another Black around, there were too few Blacks, oh, there were plenty with Black blood, but Sirius was the only male Black capable of being paterfamilias and being a sort of father for Harry. It had angered everyone that Sirius could no longer have children as this would have solved all their problems easily without putting too much stress on Harry as there would be one Lord Black and a different Lord Potter but there were somethings unavoidable. At any rate Harry would be brought up perfectly and be surrounded by advisers and people he could trust. Even Cassiopeia, who tended to have only a spartan face was disturbed by the condition of Sirius, Marius had been certain that he had seen tears run down her face as she watched the weak man struggle in his bed in the French hospital.

Just as before the door opened and a man entered, "The Wizengamot will see you now." the young wizard said.

Marching in together, the pair of Blacks' were reminded of their initial petition, except this time there would be a whole lot of fawning on the part of the Ministry. The temporary Minister was a man called Fudge and fortunately Cassiopeia had more dirt on him than many others, he had about as much backbone as a drunk Hufflepuff and about as much sense Cassiopeia thought, it made it all so much easier.

"Madame Black, Mr Black. Before this goes any further we, the Ministry, humbly apologise for the wrongs that have been committed against your House and family."

"We shall take your apologies into consideration however, we are sure that you understand that we are unwilling to accept them quite yet"

Half an hour later and they had finished discussing how Peter Pettigrew was going to be captured and moved onto the ruminations due to House Black for the failings of the Ministry.

"The main problems have been the family magics" Phineas stated, "All the wards that are tied to the paterfamilias are failing, these include at Black Manor and at all the other residences..."

Dumbledore stood and interrupted, "If I am not mistaken, Sirius Black was disowned by his mother, therefore cannot be paterfamilias."

Phineas looked up at the bearded man, "That is true, he cannot but any children he has can. As the sole male direct descendant he will act as Regent until such a time as his heir is off age. You act like this is unusual Chief Warlock, this is House Black, we have had more disowned members than you have had lemon drops in your life time. We are well used to this type of situation...not that you would know, I seem to remember you were not interested and perhaps are still not interested in wizarding history and culture, Chief Warlock."

If Cassiopeia was not a Black then she would have smirked, whilst a cheap shot from her cousin, it was completely true, "In light of this there is one point that we would wish to highlight." Cassiopeia said, "The healer when he performed the scans announced something rather...difficult. Sirius Black is now infertile as a result of his stay in Azkaban. Therefore we can charge the Ministry with line-theft as there is now no longer going to be a new paterfamilias from the direct family line. We are sure you can imagine the ramifications of this condition?"

Nearly everyone in the room gulped, it was bad enough that the last son of the last paterfamilias, disowned or not, had been imprisoned in Azkaban but now for him to be infertile...that was horrendous and all imagined their family in that position. Everyone was aware of the Black blood that flowed through the veins of many prominent families in wizarding Europe, it was likely to cause a huge amount of instability as people vied for control of the house and its Magics.

Fudge sighed, if he had thought that this was what his job would be as the interim Minister then he would have not put his name forward. He knew that the Ministry coffers were going to be greatly depleted but any less and it would be a very public insult to the House Black and anger the British public and the international too.

Almost whimpering he announced, "Eighteen million galleons will be paid to House Black over four years for failing to give a trial, for affecting the House magics by Ministerial failings and the medical problems that the stay in Azkaban has caused Sirius Orion Black."

Phineas and Cassiopeia smirked slightly, "We are so grateful" Phineas said, "That the Ministry has had this opportunity to rectify their mistake and I am sure that there will be no opportunities for this type of mistake to happen again."

With that the pair sauntered out of the court, leaving a hundred or so gobsmacked witches and wizards as they contemplated how this was going to change things and quite a large proportion trying to consider who was likely to become the new head of House Black, after all, they were now the one of the richest people in Britain.

I am sorry this is a rather draft chapter but I felt I hadn't updated anything in such a while that I would update everything before I left. Why ever I decided a research project which involved hiking through mountains for four days with no internet would be a good idea, I don't know. Anyway, I will edit this when I get back and add another chapter.

However, there we go, Sirius is free but is really suffering. He will meet Harry again in the next chapter and most of that chapter will revolve around Harry's new life in France. Please read and review, as I mentioned at the start, I have not planned further than Harry's eleventh birthday so pairings and schooling are not certain yet, if you have any ideas or comments, please do say. It is always nice to see what other people think.

(i) Wilfred Owen, Dulce and Decorum est